Ruths parents are in San Francisco for a week, so at least she will have some time to repair, clean, and explain, but Im glad its not my house all the same. Ruths older brother, Jake, has also invited his friends, and altogether there are about a hun...
CLARE: Ive been waiting all day for Henry. Im so excited. I got my drivers license yesterday, and Daddy said I could take the Fiat to Ruths party tonight. Mama doesnt like this at all, but since Daddy has already said yes she cant do much about it. I...
Why did you say was? No reason. Lucille is fine. Dont worry. Hes lying. My stomach tightens and I wrap my arms around my knees and put my head down. HENRY: I cannot believe that I have made a slip of the tongue of this magnitude. I stroke Clares hair...
He is wearing Dads old jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, and he looks tired and unshaven. I left the back door unlocked for him this morning and here he is. I set the tray of food I have brought on the floor. I could bring down some books. Actually, t...
But what if it was Henry? I jump out of bed and I run, with no shoes I run downstairs, out the back door, into the Meadow. Its cold, the wind cuts right through my nightgown. Where is he? I stop and look and there, by the orchard, theres Daddy and Ma...
Clare laughs. Youre doing it again! What? Telling me what I like. Clare burrows into my lap with her feet. Without thinking I put her feet on my shoulders, but then that seems too sexual, somehow, and I quickly take Clares feet in my hands again and...
I guess. And what do you vote for? Clare is silent. Her pragmatism and her romantic feelings about Jesus and Mary are, at thirteen, almost equally balanced. A year ago she would have said God without hesitation. In ten years she will vote for determi...
I help myself to a doughnut. Its a Bismarck, my favorite. The frosting is melting in the sun a little, and it sticks to my fingers. Clare finishes her doughnut, rolls up the cuffs of her jeans and sits cross-legged. She scratches her neck and looks a...
You know, like telling me that I like coffee with cream and sugar before I hardly even taste it. I mean, how am I going to figure out if thats what I like or if I just like it because you tell me I like it? But Clare, its just personal taste. You sho...
Pretty please? Okay, Ill try. She stands up, slowly. This is the year Clare got tall, quickly. In the past year she has grown five inches, and she has not yet become accustomed to her new body. Breasts and legs and hips, all newly minted. I try not t...
Sunday, September 23, 1984 (Henry is 35, Clare is 13) HENRY: I am in the clearing, in the Meadow. Its very early in the morning, just before dawn. Its late summer, all the flowers and grasses are up to my chest. Its chilly. I am alone. Ive never seen...
The temperature is dropping. Ten minutes ago the sky was coppery blue and there was a heavy heat over the Meadow, everything felt curved, like being under a vast glass dome, all near noises swallowed up in the heat while an overwhelming chorus of ins...
She starts to put all the pieces back in their box, carefully dividing white and black. Lots of people know about Paul McCartneyIm the only one who knows about you. But youve actually met me, and youve never met him. My mom went to a Beatles concert....
It makes me kind of wonder about fairy tales. I mean, if youre real, then why shouldnt fairy tales be real, too? Clare stands up, still pondering the board, and does a little dance, hopping around like her pants are on fire. I think the ground is get...
I move Queens Bishop to KB4. Its not fair that you know everything about me but you never tell me anything about you. True. Its not fair. I try to look regretful, and obliging. I mean, Ruth and Helen and Megan and Laura tell me everything and I tell...
